
Chinese military exercises in the Taiwan Strait in August 2022 temporarily disrupted international shipping. Like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this is a reminder of the intrinsic dialectic between war and commerce in human sociality. In anthropology, Claude Lévi-Strauss thought that wars are the result of failed transactions. On the other hand, Pierre Clastres argued that war was
READ MORE
If the stars align in proper fashion, the year 2023 promises to be key for decisions about Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian foreign service. Two studies are now under way: in the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade, launched in February, 2022; and in Global Affairs itself, the latter announced by the Minister and Deputy
READ MORE
Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzō (age 67) was murdered on the morning of July 8, 2022, while campaigning for Satō Kei, a colleague in the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). Although his legacy is not without controversy, especially in Japan, he deserves to be remembered as the most visionary statesman of the early 21st century. There
READ MORE
The Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade has initiated a review of the Canadian foreign service, the first such focused examination since the Royal Commission on Conditions of Foreign Service, which reported in 1981. While the work of a Senate committee is rarely the basis for enthusiasm, much less an optimistic prognostication, there
READ MORE

The CIPS Blog is written only by subject-matter experts.
CIPS blogs are protected by the Creative Commons license: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)